Ukrainian opposition leaders did not attend the conference

BRUSSELS, December 20. /ITAR-TASS/. The leaders of the major EU political party - European People’s Party (EPP) at a meeting of the party leadership on Thursday during two hours discussed the situation in Ukraine, EPP Vice President, member of the European Parliament from Poland Jacek Saryusz-Wolski told Itar-Tass. However, the Ukrainian opposition leaders did not attend the conference.

“It is unusual to discuss such an issue for so long,” Saryusz-Wolski said. The MEP did not go into details of the discussion, saying only that it was confidential information. According to Itar-Tass sources in the party, the meeting failed to reach effective practical decisions on supporting a free trade agreement with Ukraine.

However, referring to the ways of overcoming the political crisis in Ukraine, Saryusz-Wolski noted that the key to the crisis solution was in Kiev and it considerably depended on how long and in what form the protest movement continued.

‘Ukrainians should find a solution to this problem themselves. Maybe through elections and maybe through a new majority in the Rada (parliament),” Saryusz-Wolski said.

He added that the leaders of the Ukrainian opposition parties Batkivshchina (Fatherland) and UDAR (Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, Udar means “punch” in Ukrainian), Arseny Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko, had been invited to attend the EPP summit, however, the lawmaker said, they had not come to Brussels in connection with the debate on next year’s budget in parliament.

At the current stage, three Ukrainian parties have observer status in the European People’s Party - Batkivshchina, UDAR and Narodny Rukh Ukrainy (People’s Movement of Ukraine).

The EPP leadership conference was held in Brussels ahead of the EU summit. In addition to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Josй Manuel Barroso, 12 of the 28 EU heads of state are members of this supranational party.